It's an above average TV miniseries about ANZACS -- Australian/New Zealand forces -- at Gallipoli and in France in World War I. More cheerful than tragic, it takes us through combat, a lot of banter, a romance, explorations of character, and a lot of conflicts of varying degrees of importance.
In the earlier episodes we learn of the class distinctions between the aristocracy who mainly identify with Britain and those of the working class who think of themselves as Australians. The former are rather stiff, maintaining a veneer of European culture. The natives are a happy-go-lucky lot who pay little attention to social position.
This isn't the place to get into it, but isolated colonial populations are in a tough position. The Australians developed a national identity, taking one route out of the conflict. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took another and turned on themselves, hanging crazed devil worshipers and whatnot. Maybe it has to do with "the founder effect" -- prisoners and dissidents in Botany Bay; blue-nosed Puritans in Boston. Sorry.
National allegiances aside, there are even semi-serious regional differences among the men. There's Paul Hogan, the "banana bender" from tropical Queensland. Then there's the Cambridge-educated Andrew Clark from urban Melbourne who enlists as a private and rises to the rank of Captain.
Also explored, deservedly, are the oppositions between the British officer class and the junior officers and men. Whew, what a mismanaged war that was! Here's how historian Liddell Hart describes Douglas Haig, the British Field Marshall who managed the war in France.
"(Haig) was a man of supreme egoism and utter lack of scruple – who, to his overweening ambition, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of men. A man who betrayed even his most devoted assistants as well as the Government which he served. A man who gained his ends by trickery of a kind that was not merely immoral but criminal." Ironically, in my opinion anyway, Noel Trevarthen, who plays Haig in the film, turns in the best performance as a complete blank who refers to KIAs as "wastage" and only hopes that after the ANZACS have been "bloodied" in the field, they may behave themselves in a more military fashion behind the lines.
None of the other performances are duds though. They're all of professional character. But their roles are rather limited. Andrew Clark is the handsome hero who evolves from make-believe British to committed Australian who earns his spurs on the battlefield. And Paul Hogan's deadpan non-acting is a delight to behold.
It's not a gory bloodbath, nothing like "Band of Brothers". And the lesser budget of the typical television series is revealed now and then -- minor mistakes in wardrobe, a landscape that with its chalk and dust looks more like Australia than the rufous loam of France. The horrors of the snowy winter at Galipoli are mostly skipped, though a scene in France has the men's breath steaming.
In the end, you get to like the Ozzies. It's easy. They're serious and determined when the situation calls for it. When it doesn't, they're laid back, brash, and interested in sports, beer, and jokes -- people of action more than contemplation. I realize it's a stereotype but in my limited experiences with them in the Pacific, it all seems to fit. And, regardless of birthplace, they gave us such toothsome blonds as Olivia Newton-John, Naomi Watts, and Nicole Kidman. Good on them.
In the earlier episodes we learn of the class distinctions between the aristocracy who mainly identify with Britain and those of the working class who think of themselves as Australians. The former are rather stiff, maintaining a veneer of European culture. The natives are a happy-go-lucky lot who pay little attention to social position.
This isn't the place to get into it, but isolated colonial populations are in a tough position. The Australians developed a national identity, taking one route out of the conflict. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took another and turned on themselves, hanging crazed devil worshipers and whatnot. Maybe it has to do with "the founder effect" -- prisoners and dissidents in Botany Bay; blue-nosed Puritans in Boston. Sorry.
National allegiances aside, there are even semi-serious regional differences among the men. There's Paul Hogan, the "banana bender" from tropical Queensland. Then there's the Cambridge-educated Andrew Clark from urban Melbourne who enlists as a private and rises to the rank of Captain.
Also explored, deservedly, are the oppositions between the British officer class and the junior officers and men. Whew, what a mismanaged war that was! Here's how historian Liddell Hart describes Douglas Haig, the British Field Marshall who managed the war in France.
"(Haig) was a man of supreme egoism and utter lack of scruple – who, to his overweening ambition, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of men. A man who betrayed even his most devoted assistants as well as the Government which he served. A man who gained his ends by trickery of a kind that was not merely immoral but criminal." Ironically, in my opinion anyway, Noel Trevarthen, who plays Haig in the film, turns in the best performance as a complete blank who refers to KIAs as "wastage" and only hopes that after the ANZACS have been "bloodied" in the field, they may behave themselves in a more military fashion behind the lines.
None of the other performances are duds though. They're all of professional character. But their roles are rather limited. Andrew Clark is the handsome hero who evolves from make-believe British to committed Australian who earns his spurs on the battlefield. And Paul Hogan's deadpan non-acting is a delight to behold.
It's not a gory bloodbath, nothing like "Band of Brothers". And the lesser budget of the typical television series is revealed now and then -- minor mistakes in wardrobe, a landscape that with its chalk and dust looks more like Australia than the rufous loam of France. The horrors of the snowy winter at Galipoli are mostly skipped, though a scene in France has the men's breath steaming.
In the end, you get to like the Ozzies. It's easy. They're serious and determined when the situation calls for it. When it doesn't, they're laid back, brash, and interested in sports, beer, and jokes -- people of action more than contemplation. I realize it's a stereotype but in my limited experiences with them in the Pacific, it all seems to fit. And, regardless of birthplace, they gave us such toothsome blonds as Olivia Newton-John, Naomi Watts, and Nicole Kidman. Good on them.